Century Series Fighters: Which was the best?

Question

The Century Series USAF fighters that became operational were the F-100 Super Saber, the F-101 Voodoo, the F-102 Delta Dagger, the F-104 Starfighter, the F-105 Thunderchief and the F-106 Delta Dart. You can add the F-110 Phantom II if you wish, but it is better known as the F-4. Also the F-111 Aardvark. Several of the Century Series never made it to production and some never flew.

Which of these do you think was the best fighter, noting that some were built as tactical fighters and some as interceptors? Consider performance, mission accomplishment and general service in choosing the best.

Answer 1

If you include the F4, its the hands down winner in the catagory. Both the navy and air force used them as primary fighters and fighter bombers for nearly 20 years. They are the most produced Western fighters in the jet age and served with something like 20 air forces. Several air forces (including ours F4G wild weasle) still fly them as primary air superiority fighters (Iran has a mix of F4's, F5's and F14's).



If you don't include F4, then it has to go to the F104 Starfighter, and the only reason is production. Most of the Nato countries flew F104 as their primary fighter up until the F16 came online. The F104 was a dog of a plane and killed many aircrews due to fast and furious landing speeds.



In my personal opinion, the best of the true century fighters was the F100 Super Saber. It was the most flexible aircraft in inventory during all the the 60's. Being a Mach 1 airframe, it lacked the flash of the other fighters.

Answer 2

AND THE WINNER IS THE F-4 PHANTOM SERIES. The reason is simple. The Navy flew this version and this means it could land on carriers. A carrier bird has advantages over land locked birds all the time. They can go where land based fighters can not. This gives them a better range in a dogfight and the act of surprise in popping up where they normally shouldn't be. It also meant the enemy had to watch the sea closely. Land based fighters are limited by there home base of operations and refuelers.

Answer 3

Has to be the F-4 all the way. The F-4 is still in service today and is performing wild weasel stuff. It is also still used by many foreign countries.

Answer 4

Definitely the F-110 Phantom II (F4 Series)

Why?



Preformance:



Max Level Speed at altitude: 1,430 mph (2,300 km/h) at 36,000 ft (10,975 m), Mach 2.17

at sea level: 905 mph (1,450 km/h), Mach 1.19



Initial Climb Rate 28,000 ft (8,535 m ) / min

Service Ceiling 58,750 ft (17,905 m)

Range typical: 1,720 nm (3,185 km)

ferry: 2,000 nm (3,700 km)





Armament:

Gun: one 20-mm M61A1 Vulcan cannon (640 rds)



Stations: seven external hardpoints



Air-to-Air Missiles: AIM-120 AMRAAM, AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, Sky Flash



Air-to-Surface Missiles: AGM-65 Maverick, AGM-88 HARM, AGM-12 Bullpup



Bombs: GBU-16 Paveway LGB, Mk 82/83/84 GP, cluster



And it also had ECM pods.



Case closed.

(I know a little about aircraft, I serve in a CAV/Aviation unit, so i read up on stuff like this sometimes.)



Additional-----By the way, not sure if you knew about this website, but i do all my research on www.aerospaceweb.org

Its were the above information came from. Enjoy. :)

Answer 5

My Choice is the F-105D Thunderchief; or "Thud" as it was called. Excellent Fighter Bomber and the workhorse of the Vietnam era bombing campaigns and the first plane to take the role of Wild Weasel (F-105G) and armed with the AGM-45 Shrike Missile.



General characteristics

Crew: 1

Payload: 14,000 lb (6,700 kg) of weapons

Length: 64 ft 4.75 in (19.63 m)

Wingspan: 34 ft 11.25 in (10.65 m)

Height: 19 ft 8 in (5.99 m)

Wing area: 385 ft² (35.76 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 65A005.5 root, NACA 65A003.7 tip

Empty weight: 27,500 lb (12,470 kg)

Loaded weight: 35,637 lb (16,165 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 52,546 lb (23,834 kg)

Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney J75-P-19W afterburning turbojet, 26,500 lbf (118 kN) with afterburning and water injection

* Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0173

Drag area: 6.65 ft² (0.62 m²)

Aspect ratio: 3.16



Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 2.08 (1,372 mph, 2,208 km/h) at 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

Combat radius: 780 mi (680 nm, 1,250 km)

Ferry range: 2,210 mi (1,920 nm, 3,550 km)

Service ceiling: 48,500 ft (14,800 m)

Rate of climb: 38,500 ft/min (195 m/s)

Wing loading: 93 lb/ft² (452 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.74

Lift-to-drag ratio: 10.4

Time to altitude: 1.7 min to 35,000 ft (11,000 m)



Armament

1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61 Vulcan cannon, 1,028 rounds

Up to 14,000 lb (6350 kg) of ordnance, including conventional and nuclear bombs, and AIM-9 Sidewinder and AGM-12 Bullpup missiles, in the bomb bay and on five external hardpoints.



Avionics

NASARR R-14A radar

AN/ASG-19 Thunderstick fire-control system

AN/ARN-85 LORAN (AN/ARN-92 in Thunderstick II-modified aircraft